Vanderbilt University Medical Center to Use Censis Technologies to Track Surgical Instruments; Pioneering software to help manage 60,000 instruments, control per-surgery costs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With a minute-by-minute need to account for some 60,000 surgical tools all day, every day, Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin using instrument management software that tracks individual surgical instruments created by Censis Technologies, Inc. of Franklin, Tenn.

Over the next nine months, Censitrac from Censis Technologies, Inc. will be phased in at Vanderbilt to track individual instruments. When implementation is complete, Vanderbilt's six surgical facilities in five locations plan to use Censitrac for all their surgical instruments.

Vanderbilt selected Censitrac because it is designed to track individual surgical instruments rather than just tracking surgical trays that hold instruments. Censitrac's system is anticipated to meet Vanderbilt's requirements to keep up with the 60,000 surgical instruments used in the medical center's operating rooms.

"We were originally using a software solution that monitored the location of our surgical trays," said Nancye Feistritzer, assistant hospital administrator for surgical services at Vanderbilt. "We eventually recognized that we needed another level of reliability for managing our resources - that it's not just the tray; it's what's in the tray. We need our trays to be 100 percent accurate, 100 percent of the time."

In addition to tracking the surgical instruments, Censitrac automates the documentation and reporting of the sterilization process, significantly reduces lost or misplaced instruments and ensures that each tray is assembled properly.

"In addition to our goals of enhanced patient safety and increased staff and surgeon satisfaction, we expect that Censis will help us with good stewardship of our instrument resources," Feistritzer said. "We are expecting that we will not have to buy as many to replace existing volume, thereby allowing us to focus on purchasing new instruments."

Feistritzer said the conversion to Censitrac includes personnel from the hospital surgical services department, Vanderbilt's information technology staff and perioperative nurses, as well as guidance from Censis' support team.

Vanderbilt's goal is to further control its costs per surgical case over the next few years. "I feel like we have a situation where we are going to be able to work with Censis to get the solution that we need," Feistritzer said.

"As Vanderbilt continues to expand its capabilities for providing reliable surgical care, Censis is committed to helping VUMC Surgical Services be as thorough as possible in managing its valuable instrument resources," said Blair S. Myers, vice president for sales and marketing, Censis Technologies, Inc. "We expect Vanderbilt to realize a solid return on their investment."

Vanderbilt is the 33rd facility in the United States to implement Censitrac since its launch in 2003. Censis also installed a system in the United Kingdom and has a distributor in Australia.

About Censis:

Censitrac (www.censis.net/tracking) from Censis Technologies, Inc. (www.censis.net) is a comprehensive instrument management system that tracks and manages individual surgical instruments. Censitrac utilizes a proprietary marking technology to bond a permanent mark on surgical instruments. It provides the ability to interpret the mark and use proprietary software, making it the most comprehensive surgical instrument management system available. Accurate tray assembly, proper instrument maintenance, sterilization documentation, case tracking for infection control, employee productivity and equipment logistic management are monitored through the Censitrac reporting package.

About Vanderbilt:

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the hub of tertiary care in middle Tennessee, comprising the Vanderbilt Hospital, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, the Psychiatric Hospital at Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the largest physician practice in Tennessee with more than 800 providers. Vanderbilt has the fastest growing research program among American medical schools and Schools of Medicine and Nursing that are uniformly ranked among the nation's elite. Its three-part mission of healing, teaching and discovery fuels a $1.2 billion annual enterprise.